Arts

From music to choreography, Milwaukee Ballet's 'Peter Pan' is an original

Dancers of the Milwaukee Ballet are reaching new heights with the company's world-premiere production of "Peter Pan" that opens Thursday - about 40 feet of height, when Peter flies across the stage.

Although the theatrical wonder of flight will add an element of excitement to the performances, the real excitement surrounding "Peter Pan" is the fact that this is a new production from stem to stern, from the music the orchestra will play to the choreography, sets and costumes.

Michael Pink, Milwaukee Ballet artistic director and choreographer of the new production, calls "Peter Pan" "one of those magical stories that captures the imagination and that people relate to and keep coming back to." He worked closely with composer Philip Feeney even though half of a continent and the Atlantic Ocean lay between them.

"We have been talking about and working on this production for five years," Pink explained. But it was last summer that he and Feeney began working in earnest via the Internet and Skype.

Feeney would send Pink MIDI files from London, containing portions of the new score.

Pink would spend his days in the studio, trying out choreography with the dancers and videotaping the results. He would spend his evenings poring over the music and videotapes and then would communicate with Feeney via Skype.

The two would sit face to face, or at least screen to screen, and discuss the music, the plot and the chorography. If need be, Feeney could turn to a keyboard and play through a thought or an example for Pink.

Pink and Feeney have worked together before, including "Dracula" in 1996 and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1997. Feeney describes their working relationship as comfortable, "like an old marriage."

Feeney arrived in Milwaukee in early May, just in time to put finishing touches on the conductor's score before turning it over for the final weeks of rehearsals.

While Pink and Feeney were working on telling the Peter Pan story through sound and movement, the company's dancers were winging around the rehearsal studio, thanks to a rigging set-up that was installed to let them become comfortable with the feel of "flying" and with the aerial choreography.

Dancers in the wings who will control the "ropes" for the aerial dancers also needed that time to learn the choreography and to get comfortable with their roles in the process.

"Everything has been worked out so that it runs like clockwork," Pink said. Even so, he added, the additional 15 feet of height the dancers have in the actual theater might "take a second to get used to."

While Pink, Feeney and the dancers have been toiling at their portions of the production, Pink said "an absolute army" of people also has been working on creating "Peter Pan."

"The list of people who have worked on this production looks like the movie credits that roll on forever and ever. We have milliners, props people, costume people, scenery people, the orchestra and the chorus. We are indebted to hundreds of people, and most of them are local."

If you go

What: Milwaukee Ballet's "Peter Pan"

When: 7:30 p.m. May 13-15; 1:30 p.m. May 16. The May 15-16 performances are sold out; limited tickets remain for May 13 and 14.

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Keep up with the art scene and trends in urban design with art and architecture critic Mary Louise Schumacher. Every week, you'll get the latest reviews, musings on architecture and her picks for what to do on the weekends.

E-mail Newsletter

Keep up with the art scene and trends in urban design with art and architecture critic Mary Louise Schumacher. Every week, you'll get the latest reviews, musings on architecture and her picks for what to do on the weekends.